Sweet smell of clean air success

Quality is at highest levels in 50 years, Bloomberg says

Published 9:17 pm, Thursday, September 26, 2013

Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday said the city's air quality has hit its highest levels in 50 years, a development officials say has led to fewer deaths and hospitalizations.

"New York has the cleanest air now of any major American city," Bloomberg said at a news conference as part of a week of climate-related events.

Bloomberg said the level of sulfur dioxide in the air has gone down by 69 percent since 2008. The level of soot pollution has gone down by 23 percent since 2007. The data comes from the city's Community Air Survey, which measured street level air pollution at 150 locations from 2008 to 2010 and at 100 sites from 2010 to 2013.

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Officials estimate the decrease in pollution has annually prevented 800 deaths and 2,000 emergency room visits and hospitalizations in the city of 8 million people. Sulfur dioxide exacerbates asthma, and soot pollution impacts on heart disease and lung disease.

Aside from smoking bans, "this better air quality prevents more deaths than any other change that's happened in New York City in the last decade," said Dr. Thomas Farley, the city's health commissioner.